History of the National Anthem

The Grand Tradition begins with baseball

Since I love to sing and since I love baseball,
singing the national anthem at Major League games
has provided a chance to combine my passions.
-- Joseph L. Price

According to some, the earliest connection between "The Star
Spangled Banner" and baseball occurred on May 15, 1862, when a band is
thought to have played the tune at the opening of the Capitolene Grounds
in New York. Association of "The Star Spangled Banner" with Major League
games began, according to others, when the New York Highlanders (Yankees)
played on April 30, 1903. Although the song was occasionally played at
important public events at the turn of the twentieth century, "Columbia,
Gem of the Ocean" was much more popular for bands to play at ballparks.

The era was one that featured live brass bands because public
address systems and amplification technology had not yet been developed
and would not be installed at a ballpark until 1929, again in New York,
again associated with the Yankees - in "The House that Ruth Built." Anecdotal
accounts indicate that "The Star Spangled Banner" was played at a ballgame
in 1916 following a request by President Woodrow Wilson. And at least
one other report identifies that the song was played by a band at the
opening game between Cleveland and New York for the 1917 season.

The first indisputable record of the playing of "The Star
Spangled Banner" for a Major League game was for a unique World Series.
The premature series in 1918 featured Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox
winning their last Series against the even more hapless Cubs. A year earlier
the World Series had been unaffected by the United States' entry into
the World War. But following the completion of the 1917 season, players
enlisted and were drafted into the armed services. At the height of the
1918 season, baseball was classified as a non - essential occupation.
Consequently, the government cut the season short, requiring the end of
regular season play by Labor Day and the completion of the World Series
by mid - September.

The playing of "The Star Spangled Banner" can first be verified
by a New York Times report of the 1918 World Series. In the inning-by-inning
recap of the first game, the report of the bottom of the seventh - inning
notes that as the Cubs came to bat the band delayed play by playing "The
Star Spangled Banner.'" Players and fans stood in civilian salute, most
holding their caps over their hearts, while Red Sox' third baseman Fred
Thomas, a Great Lakes sailor, assumed "the military pose" (NY Times, 9/06/1918,
p. 14). The pre - game ceremony on that afternoon had been minimal. While
the managers and umpires were exchanging line - up cards at home plate
and going over the ground rules, a huge horseshoe of roses was presented
to Cubs manager Fred Mitchell, and a big bouquet of roses was handed to
Cubs third baseman Charles Deal.

Since the end of the Spanish American War two decades earlier,
bands had played "The Star Spangled Banner" on festive public occasions
as part of a patriotic repertoire that included "America" and "Yankee
Doodle." The "The Star Spangled Banner" had steadily gained popularity
in the intervening years because of its rousing patriotic character, and
in the year of Red Sox - Cubs World Series, a formal proposal was made
in Congress to adopt it as the National Anthem. But the expansive melodic
range of "The Star Spangled Banner" prompted enough objections for the
bill to be defeated that year, and again in 1921, 1923, and 1925. Prompted
by a petition with six million signatures, the bill was submitted to Congress
again in 1931 and signed into law on May 3rd by Herbert Hoover.

Unlike its timing at Wrigley Field, the band at Fenway started
the fourth game of the 1918 World Series with "The Star Spangled Banner."
The New York Times referred to it as "The National Anthem" the following
day - a designation it had earlier received from Woodrow Wilson. Despite
the delay in play on this occasion, the patriotic crowd greeted wounded
soldiers in uniform with wild applause and enthusiastic cheers when the
men, most of whom were bandaged and on crutches, were shown to their seats.

During the next few years, "The Star Spangled Banner" was
played at World Series games and on holiday occasions. Beginning in World
War II, however, the National Anthem, as it had become officially designated
by then, began to be played and performed regularly at games. Since then,
it has been associated with the exchange of line - up cards at home plate
and the cry of the home plate umpire, "Play ball."

Joseph L. Price is a Professor of
Religious Studies at Whittier College. He has performed the National Anthem
at 18 ballparks across the United States. This article first appeared
in the Fall edition of the American Academy of Religion's newsletter Religious
Studies News, p. 16, and is reprinted here with the permission of
the author.